Are Eggs The Perfect Food?

Unless you're planning to hit '80s night at your favorite club this weekend, you're not going to wear acid-washed jeans or crimp your hair. So why are you still ordering egg white omelets?

I don't mean you specifically: You're nutritionally savvier. I'm talking about your friend who, despite what the latest science shows, orders an egg-white omelet at brunch and stocks up on liquid egg whites (also known as chemicals in a carton) when her favorite grocery store puts them on sale.

Or maybe you know a fitness-focused guy who makes the gym his second home, has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports nutrition, and yet loads up post-workout on skinless chicken breast and egg whites.

Oh, and let's not even mention that new egg white sandwich a certain fast-food establishment is now pushing. Nope, don't even go there.

You've grown from those catastrophic '80s fashion disasters. If you're not already, it's time to evolve your diet and eat the whole egg.

Rotten Eggs: How A Perfect Food Can Go Bad

I love eggs and used to eat them nearly every morning. You can even find some of my old videos on YouTube where I discuss eggs as part of a perfect breakfast.

I reconsidered when I started using IgG food sensitivity testing and found over 70 percent of my clients tested positive for eggs. When I asked them to eliminate eggs and other highly-reactive foods for three weeks, their symptoms disappeared, they felt and looked better, and they finally shed those last few stubborn pounds.

Of all my food culprits, I get the most criticism about eggs. "I agree with everything JJ says about food intolerances," bloggers and readers sometimes write, "except for eggs."

For the record, I have never been anti-egg. I think they can be a perfectly healthy part of your diet. Trouble begins when you eat eggs every morning or purchase poor-quality eggs.

Eggs are also high in the pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid, partly because chickens are fed soy and corn rather than their natural diet. One large conventional egg, to be exact, contains a woefully imbalanced 574 mg of omega-6s and 37 mg of omega-3 fatty acids.

Chronic inflammation contributes to numerous diseases and can make you fat. A study in the journal Gastroenterology, for example, showed inflammation contributes to obesity, insulin resistance, and eventually Type 2 diabetes.

We also over-consume eggs. I'm not singling eggs out: Most people have a very limited repertoire of foods they eat repeatedly, which over time can create gut-related issues.

But because they're a great source of protein for vegetarians and low-carb meat eaters alike, eggs are the go-to protein for many people. That could become a problem if you eat them every morning.

Here's the good news. When people pull eggs for three weeks, their gut issues improve, they feel and look better, and their symptoms disappear. Because they've healed their gut, they find they can then occasionally enjoy eggs when they re-introduce them.

Maybe you believe you don't have egg intolerances, but how would you know unless you pull them for three weeks? What if something innocuous like eggs were creating symptoms like bloating and headaches or holding you back from meeting your fat-loss goals?

Eggs are a Nutrient Powerhouse

Intolerances aside, eggs are a great food. Three large eggs packs about 21 grams of very high-quality protein. While their saturated fat sometimes gets an undeserved bad rep, eggs actually provide a balance of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats.

Yes, the fat is all in the yolk; so are the nutrients. Among its array of nutrients, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports one egg yolk provides:

According to Dr. Jonny Bowden in his book The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, one large egg yolk also provides 300 mcg of choline, which forms betaine to help lower homocysteine (a risk factor for heart disease). Choline also helps make phosphatidylcholine to benefit your liver, nervous system, and brain.

The carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin in egg yolks are powerful antioxidants and particularly valuable to prevent macular degeneration. A study in the journal Optometry showed lutein is a powerful antioxidant to improve vision. Another study in the Journal of Nutrition found men absorb lutein better from egg yolks than spinach or supplements.

Bottom line: When you discard egg yolks, you're also discarding the majority of an egg's nutrients.

What About Cholesterol?

Besides fat, people discard egg yolks because of their cholesterol.

Experts, including Bowden and Dr. Stephen Sinatra in their book The Great Cholesterol Myth, have come out swinging against the rampant anti-cholesterol mania. We now know that dietary cholesterol has almost no impact on blood cholesterol, but some people still fear this crucial molecule that helps make your sex hormones and vitamin D.

Stop it. There are real problems in this world. Cholesterol in egg yolks is not one of them.

Studies verify cholesterol is nothing to fear. One in the journal Food and Function concluded (and this is worth quoting): "We need to acknowledge that diverse healthy populations experience no risk in developing coronary heart disease by increasing their intake of cholesterol but in contrast, they may have multiple beneficial effects by the inclusion of eggs in their regular diet."

If you've challenged eggs and can tolerate them, you can enjoy them a few times every week. Any more than that and you're risking creating food intolerances.

Besides being packed with nutrients, the yolk will help you better absorb the egg's protein. Take that, egg white zealots!

I also want you to buy barnyard eggs, which have more nutrients than conventional eggs. For instance, a study in Mother Earth News showed barnyard egg yolks have 3-6 times more vitamin D than conventional eggs.

Even better if you can find barnyard raised eggs from chickens fed their natural diet (icky stuff like worms and dirt) rather than soy and corn. Visit your farmers market, talk to vendors, and really learn how they raise and treat their chickens.

Not everyone has access to farm-raised chickens or eggs. Second best would be organic omega-3-enriched store-bought eggs. The essential fatty acids in eggs from chickens fed flax meal will help balance the egg's pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid.

Soft-boiled or poached are the best way to prevent oxidation, a nasty chemical reaction that damages the egg's fats. Never, ever eat those buffet scrambled eggs, which have become oxidation central sitting under a heat lamp for who knows how long.

Are eggs really nature's perfect food? Yes, provided that you don't have egg intolerances and choose the very best quality.

I have no injuries to speak of whatsoever, but I'm not deluding myself by thinking what I do is "healthy".

If anything, it's challenging and is a mechanism by which I see how far I can push mentally and physically, but it ain't "healthy".

Because anabolism isn't needed in bodybuilding and most physical sports... Which are not considered strength athletes. Maybe you belong on steroids.com or something. And yes what YOU do may or may not be healthy. But weight training as opposed to not weight training IS in fact healthy.

Just because your goal is powerlifting/strongman doesn't make it everyone's on this website

It was more of a general statement, not directed towards you. And the part in bold is like saying athletes in any sport aren't healthy because they get injured ALL the time. Just because you get tweaks doesn't mean it's an unhealthy activity.

Oh ok well I'm glad we have something to disagree on.

Football players and their concussions... It has health implications

Taekwondo martial artists are notorious for their hip replacements in their 40's or even 30's

Basketball players and their acl tears. For them it's not so big a deal when they have dr James andrews to fix them up. For the average Joe, the knee is rarely the same.

I could go on, but I won't.

Bottom line is, I train hard AND smart, and I still come away w tweaks and minor injuries. Do I know what 20-30 more years of this is going to lead to? No. And neither do you.

Being an iron/physique athlete is something that I love and will never give up willingly. I do it because I love it and it makes me awesome. Not because it makes me healthy.

I do think that it I possible to achieve moderate success in this sport with health as the primary goal, but when winning at highly competive levels is the goal, health will inevitably be compromised.

Anyone who has heard of Layne Norton realizes bb dieting does not necessitate sacrificing "health" as he has proved this many times. Lifting heavy ie powerlifting impacts the cardiovascular system in much the same way as other high intensity exercise like running.
Anytime someone labels an activity in such a general way as to say all of "x" is unhealthy, they have clearly demonstrated an insufficient understanding of the topic. Define what is "unhealthy" and go from there.
If one is convinced their training is "unhealthy" then they should stop and seek the advice of someone qualified to evaluate their goals, programming, and methodology.
In the end, being alive is "unhealthy" since being alive results in death 100% of the time. Everything has a risk and reward

Anyone who has heard of Layne Norton realizes bb dieting does not necessitate sacrificing "health" as he has proved this many times. Lifting heavy ie powerlifting impacts the cardiovascular system in much the same way as other high intensity exercise like running.
Anytime someone labels an activity in such a general way as to say all of "x" is unhealthy, they have clearly demonstrated an insufficient understanding of the topic. Define what is "unhealthy" and go from there.
If one is convinced their training is "unhealthy" then they should stop and seek the advice of someone qualified to evaluate their goals, programming, and methodology.
In the end, being alive is "unhealthy" since being alive results in death 100% of the time. Everything has a risk and reward

Layne who? I'm a noob right? I diet on 1200 cals w no carbs, 3 hours LISS cardio, and I cut my water on Monday for a Saturday competition... Cmon i hope you're not trying to school me.

I'm not sure what your point is.

I am very healthy. I have tracked every kcal and macro for the last 2.5 years and I don't drink or smoke. That's all part of my sport and my healthy lifestyle. I did however round my back on my 2nd and 3rd rep at 390 atg squats today. It was unhealthy. Don't know what else to tell you.

Layne who? I'm a noob right? I diet on 1200 cals w no carbs, 3 hours LISS cardio, and I cut my water on Monday for a Saturday competition... Cmon i hope you're not trying to school me.

I'm not sure what your point is.

I am very healthy. I have tracked every kcal and macro for the last 2.5 years and I don't drink or smoke. That's all part of my sport and my healthy lifestyle. I did however round my back on my 2nd and 3rd rep at 390 atg squats today. It was unhealthy. Don't know what else to tell you.

Go be healthy

You labeled heavy lifting and contest dieting as "unhealthy" without mentioning what is "unhealthy" about any of it and are even further from providing evidence to substantiate your claims. I merely pointed out a guy that anyone could look up and not only see how he contest diets but also learn how it is not "unhealthy".
You then pointed out how you do both things that you have claimed to be "unhealthy" while yourself remaining "healthy" even after an "unhealthy squat session. I can't imagine anyone learning anything from what you have posted other than to skip over future posts that you make.

Layne who? I'm a noob right? I diet on 1200 cals w no carbs, 3 hours LISS cardio, and I cut my water on Monday for a Saturday competition... Cmon i hope you're not trying to school me.

I'm not sure what your point is.

I am very healthy. I have tracked every kcal and macro for the last 2.5 years and I don't drink or smoke. That's all part of my sport and my healthy lifestyle. I did however round my back on my 2nd and 3rd rep at 390 atg squats today. It was unhealthy. Don't know what else to tell you.

Go be healthy

The problem here seems to be different ideas of what constitutes "healthy" . The current medical definition of "healthy" seems to be whatever is going to prolong one's life the most. It's a popular idea, but that doesn't make it right.

Personally I think health is a subjective thing; it has a lot to do with quality of life. That kind of passive-aggressive/path of least resistance approach to good health just doesn't work for me. Like the man said, there's nothing passive about my aggression. One of my older friends got injured recently and he was kind of moaning about his rehab. I told him, "would you rather spend your last day in a hospital bed, or climbing a mountain? Get your ass up there into the fresh air and sunshine and say, See you world?"

The key here is being *able* to climb a mountain on your last day. The point being, minor injuries (and sometimes major ones) are the price we pay for living healthy, active lives. It's a small price in my opinion, given the alternative.

You labeled heavy lifting and contest dieting as "unhealthy" without mentioning what is "unhealthy" about any of it and are even further from providing evidence to substantiate your claims. I merely pointed out a guy that anyone could look up and not only see how he contest diets but also learn how it is not "unhealthy".
You then pointed out how you do both things that you have claimed to be "unhealthy" while yourself remaining "healthy" even after an "unhealthy squat session. I can't imagine anyone learning anything from what you have posted other than to skip over future posts that you make.

Yes please do skip over my posts. I don't enjoy bickering with you.

I am a huge proponent of training and dieting. I coach 30+ sessions a week as a CSCS, in addition to my own training sessions. This is my whole life.

If you re-read my post you'll see that I stated that high level PL is unhealthy. I don't think that can be argued against, but I'm sure some will try.

CONTEST LEVEL conditioning for top BB competition is unhealthy. It just is. I've been in peak condition using safe practices and I know that I was much healthier at 6 weeks out than 6 days out (peak week). Have you competed?

Are you familiar with Dr Nortons work on metabolic and hormonal damage as a result of dieting? Does hormonal/metabolic damage sound healthy to you? It's not, but it is the reality of months of severe caloric restriction to a bodyfat percentage of <5%...often much lower

Also, many are skeptical of which of the top "natural pros" are using banned substances, which do have health implications. Natural Bodybuilding is "tested" but not necessarily "natural".

I agree that we all have to come to our own definition of what is healthy and what we are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of our goals. I work with a sports medicine team, and every day I have articles shoved in my face about the risks of my " extreme" approach. I'm a proponent of hard training and disciplined dieting, but I do NOT KNOW the long term (30+ years) results of these practices. Please don't pretend that you do.

You labeled heavy lifting and contest dieting as "unhealthy" without mentioning what is "unhealthy" about any of it and are even further from providing evidence to substantiate your claims. I merely pointed out a guy that anyone could look up and not only see how he contest diets but also learn how it is not "unhealthy".
You then pointed out how you do both things that you have claimed to be "unhealthy" while yourself remaining "healthy" even after an "unhealthy squat session. I can't imagine anyone learning anything from what you have posted other than to skip over future posts that you make.

Yes please do skip over my posts. I don't enjoy bickering with you.

I am a huge proponent of training and dieting. I coach 30+ sessions a week as a CSCS, in addition to my own training sessions. This is my whole life.

If you re-read my post you'll see that I stated that high level PL is unhealthy. I don't think that can be argued against, but I'm sure some will try.

CONTEST LEVEL conditioning for top BB competition is unhealthy. It just is. I've been in peak condition using safe practices and I know that I was much healthier at 6 weeks out than 6 days out (peak week). Have you competed?

Are you familiar with Dr Nortons work on metabolic and hormonal damage as a result of dieting? Does hormonal/metabolic damage sound healthy to you? It's not, but it is the reality of months of severe caloric restriction to a bodyfat percentage of <5%...often much lower

Also, many are skeptical of which of the top "natural pros" are using banned substances, which do have health implications. Natural Bodybuilding is "tested" but not necessarily "natural".

I agree that we all have to come to our own definition of what is healthy and what we are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of our goals. I work with a sports medicine team, and every day I have articles shoved in my face about the risks of my " extreme" approach. I'm a proponent of hard training and disciplined dieting, but I do NOT KNOW the long term (30+ years) results of these practices. Please don't pretend that you do.

Because anabolism isn't needed in bodybuilding and most physical sports... Which are not considered strength athletes. Maybe you belong on steroids.com or something. And yes what YOU do may or may not be healthy. But weight training as opposed to not weight training IS in fact healthy.

Just because your goal is powerlifting/strongman doesn't make it everyone's on this website

I am a huge proponent of training and dieting. I coach 30+ sessions a week as a CSCS, in addition to my own training sessions. This is my whole life.

If you re-read my post you'll see that I stated that high level PL is unhealthy. I don't think that can be argued against, but I'm sure some will try.

CONTEST LEVEL conditioning for top BB competition is unhealthy. It just is. I've been in peak condition using safe practices and I know that I was much healthier at 6 weeks out than 6 days out (peak week). Have you competed?

Are you familiar with Dr Nortons work on metabolic and hormonal damage as a result of dieting? Does hormonal/metabolic damage sound healthy to you? It's not, but it is the reality of months of severe caloric restriction to a bodyfat percentage of <5%...often much lower

Also, many are skeptical of which of the top "natural pros" are using banned substances, which do have health implications. Natural Bodybuilding is "tested" but not necessarily "natural".

I agree that we all have to come to our own definition of what is healthy and what we are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of our goals. I work with a sports medicine team, and every day I have articles shoved in my face about the risks of my " extreme" approach. I'm a proponent of hard training and disciplined dieting, but I do NOT KNOW the long term (30+ years) results of these practices. Please don't pretend that you do.

Metabolic damage more appropriately named adaptive thermogenesis is the result of poor contest dieting and programming aka the unhealthy kind. There is a better alternative, you should do some reading on what Norton actually promotes instead of throwing the name around and expecting it to have some kind of merit, the same way you're flaunting that cscs and how many potentially illadvised clients you hold.
If you admittedly dont know the long term effects of something how could you possibly then label it as "unhealthy".